As the season opened I reported on Jon Lester’s potential to break the record for most hitless at bats to start a career this season, now that he’s batting regularly as a National League pitcher.  Later, I reported on his breaking that record.  Now, at last, there is closure.  On Monday Jon Lester got his first career hit, and it was off former teammate John Lackey (literally – it ricocheted off Lackey).  He tallied 30 AB and 30 plate appearances this season before getting that hit, adding to his prior career totals of 43 PA and 36 AB without a hit.

Here is the new top 10 list:

Name	Team(s)	Pos	PA	AB	First hitless game	Last hitless game	Hitless Games	RBI	SO	BB	HBP	SH	SF
Jon Lester	BOS-OAK	P	73	66	6/16/2006	7/1/2015	30	1	37	1	0	5	1
Joey Hamilton	SDP	P	66	57	5/24/1994	6/3/1995	24	1	34	2	0	6	1
Ron Herbel	SFG	P	63	55	5/6/1964	5/11/1965	27	0	36	2	0	6	0
Marv Breuer	NYY	P	57 to 60	47 to 49	4/27/1940	9/4/1940	20	1	22 or 23	4 or 5	0	6
Luke Walker	PIT	P	56	48	4/18/1966	4/18/1970	27	2	29	2	0	6	0
Don Carman	PHI	P	53	48	9/13/1984	5/11/1987	28	0	21	0	0	5	0
Fred Gladding	DET-HOU	P	49	47	7/1/1961	7/5/1969	40	0	27	0	0	2	0
Chris Short	PHI	P	45	44	4/19/1959	6/24/1961	26	0	19	0	0	1	0
Randy Tate	NYM	P	47	41	4/14/1975	9/18/1975	23	0	22	1	0	5	0
Pat Jarvis	ATL	P	45	41	8/13/1966	6/12/1967	18	1	24	2	0	2	0

Congratulations, Jon. You’ve hit some balls pretty hard to this point in your career, and streak records like this one always involve some luck, either bad or good. Now forget about hitting, because you’ve got more important concerns.